Politics
Obama: GOP leader, GOP blocks jobs vote
President Barack Obama is naming names.
First he singled out House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
On Tuesday, House Republican leader Eric Cantor came in for a presidential scolding as Obama used an economic sales pitch in Texas to criticize the House majority leader for refusing to take up the president’s jobs bill.
“Eric Cantor said that right now, he won’t even let this jobs bill have a vote in the House of Representatives. That’s what he said. Won’t even let it be debated,” Obama said in a speech at a community college in Mesquite, a Dallas suburb. “Think about that. What’s the problem? Do they not have the time?
They just had a week off. Is it inconvenient?”
“At least put this jobs bill up for a vote so that the entire country knows exactly where members of Congress stand,” the president said. “Put your cards on the table.”
Even as Obama spoke, McConnell was attempting to call his bluff by pushing for a quick Senate vote on the jobs bill, which Senate Democrats have acknowledged doesn’t have the support to pass. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid objected so he could delay action until Democrats can corral more support.
